World’s second largest bank, Chinese giga bank arrives in Hungary

With 350,000 employees and 14,500 branches in China alone, China Construction Bank is the world’s second largest bank. Now, this giga bank has arrived in Hungary too.

The world’s second largest bank arrives in Hungary

The world’s second largest bank, China Construction Bank (CCB), has arrived in Hungary. In recent days, not only the establishment of the bank’s branch, but also all kinds of negotiations and cooperation have been reported in the Hungarian press, Telex reports. We have also reported before that CCB is even active in financing the Hungarian government’s Vodafone deal.

According to Opten, the national CCB is located at 7 Szabadság Square, with 13 employees so far. All of its senior officers are Chinese individuals.

CCB is now the second largest bank in the world by market capitalisation. It has more than 14 500 branches in China. It has European branches in London, Barcelona, Frankfurt and Luxembourg, but is much stronger in other parts of the world. It is present in Hong Kong, Johannesburg, New York, Seoul, Tokyo, Santiago de Chile and major cities in Australia. In total, 350,000 people work for the bank, Telex explains.

The relationship between the President of the CCB and PM Orbán

The CCB is chaired by 62-year-old Tian Guoli. He is one of the most important bankers in the world today, but certainly the most influential in China. Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Tian Guoli are said to be on good terms. The relationship between Viktor Orbán and Tien Kuo-li started when the Chinese banker became the Governor of the Bank of China in 2013.

When Guoli became the bank’s President, he also visited the regional branch in Budapest and had a brief meeting with the Prime Minister during his visit. Then, when Orbán was re-elected in 2014, Guolin was present at his inauguration dinner. He came from Beijing especially for the event. Orbán appreciated this a lot: they sat close together at the dinner and have met several times since.